Folate

So I’ve started taking Folate again. This is a Sign of Optimism.

I think it was about 4 or 5 years ago I started taking it daily because my gynecologist said that I should take it for a year before trying to conceive. I felt dumb taking folate and bcps at the same time (simultaneously preparing for and preventing pregnancy just seemed to contradictory), and then I hit my Great Depression of 2004 and quit the folate altogether because it felt like it would be a sin to bring a child into this horrible world.

My sister refused to take any prenatal vitamins at all, because, as she said, “I get my vitamins from food.” Her kid came out fine, so I had to wonder if folate was all that necessary with a balanced diet.

Well, even if I just pee it out, I’m taking it again anyway. Can’t hurt, right?

2 Responses to “Folate”

Folic acid is supposed to be important for preventing neural tube defects, which develop in early in the first trimester (frequently before women even know they’re pregnant, although that’s not true for us IFers). I think that’s why doctors push it so much, and I’ve seen public health recommendations for all women of child-bearing years to take it, “just in case.”